IDENTIFY ONE PROBLEM OR NEED OF A PATIENT WHOM YOU HAVE NURSED. REFLECT ON THE HOLISTIC CARE PLANNED FOR THIS PROBLEM OR NEED IN RELATION TO ONE OF THE NURSING - Essay Example

Soul-searching helps the nurse to identify the needs, guide and give courage to the patients to accept and bear the illness. Older, retired adults, who have led a very busy life, find it difficult to see themselves powerless. Anger added to pain and powerlessness leads to depression and frustration. According to the American Holistic Nursing Association (AHNA) holism involves identifying the interrelationships of the bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of the person. It recognizes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

It also requires understanding the individual as a unitary whole (Eschiti, 2005). My experience with an elderly man brought out my own talents. It made me apply the right rationale in nursing after weighing the advantages and disadvantages to the patient. When this 75 year old patient was brought in for admission, he insisted that he did not need nursing and was angry at his family for forcing him to get admitted. It was difficult for his children to rush to him every now and then even though they lived close by.

As I tried to comfort him, his anger aggravated. Comfort is a state linked to outcomes such as ease, well-being and satisfaction (Tutton, 2003). The objects and people who provide comfort also matter and it was obvious that this patient did not feel at ease with strangers and the new environment. Comfort includes caring and nursing actions and nurses have the potential to fulfill this expectation (Seers, 2003). It is important for a nurse to know the background, likes and dislikes to be able to comfort to the patient.

Further details revealed that he was suffering from social isolation associated with ageing, he had lost the ability to control urinary bladder continence, and he required continuous oxygen. He was also not concerned about personal hygiene. He had never been admitted to a nursing home before although he had enough experience of visiting family and friends